In the manufacture of wood-based products, a sealant can be applied to a surface of the wood product to prevent colored compounds in a substrate of the wood product such as, for example, oils and tannins, from migrating up from the substrate to mar or otherwise discolor the surface. This migration of colored compounds may also contribute to and/or cause delamination of a coating overlying the substrate.
Customers have expressed a preference for aqueous latex sealants, which, in some embodiments, may be formulated to include small polymeric particles having good penetrability and water resistance. These latex particles can penetrate into capillaries or micropores in the surface and/or subsurface of the wood product to form a sealing layer or a coating.Aqueous latex sealants can, in some applications, have insufficient sealing or blocking properties to prevent colored compounds from migrating to a surface of a wood-based substrate. Some aqueous latex sealants can also be difficult and expensive to apply.